


Eat Snacks, Complicate Things, Love

by orphan_account



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Romance, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-02-14
Packaged: 2018-01-12 06:36:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1183042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valentine's Day doesn't have to be so difficult, but apparently that's what happens when you're in denial about a crush, jealous of school girls for no reason, getting lost in the city or glaring daggers at home-made chocolate.</p><p>Ah, to be young and foolish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

  **Thursday, February 13th**

<3

”I hate Valentine’s day,” Atsushi proclaimed, with the same sullen, stubborn look a child wears when declaring their infinite hatred of broccoli. The face he was making in itself was not too uncommon, but in what had become a habit, his words shocked Tatsuya, who walked by his side casually through the hallway, even though they were in different years.

Yousen High was the result of a Japanese architect trying too hard to emulate Western design, and mixing modern with the famous Victorian architecture – and a dash of Edwardian style. It had taken Tatsuya about four weeks before he had started to really get behind the concept, and he still thought it looked a bit too weird to serve as a successful school, but he appreciated the sentiment in trying to mix cultures.

For all of the school’s flare, however, it failed in its lack of structured floors, meaning the classrooms were not orderly located with clear to view numbers, and even the maps were hard to find. A few of the classrooms lacked a wall, and it was not uncommon for the new students to confuse the available tables there for the cafeteria, which didn’t look much different at all. Said cafeteria was oddly located on the third floor, without an open ceiling to hang out at the way Tatsuya had looked forward to do, perhaps after reading a few too many manga before returning to his homeland.

All of this contributed to the fact that Atsushi, who lacked a sense of direction, and Tatsuya, who often ended up lost on the virtue of going ahead alone, had made it a habit to walk to their classes together. It was easy enough for Tatsuya to spot Atsushi from anywhere, so the younger would usually longue outside of his finished class for Tatsuya to find him. Occasionally their infamous basketball teammates – who for some mysterious reason, no matter how much they argued, always ended up walking together – would find and help them out, but as they had found out with time, they really got along the best when it was just the two of them.

All of this can be put as an aside, so let’s return to the beginning; that is; Atsushi’s odd declaration of his hatred for Valentine’s Day.

“Really?” Tatsuya asked in surprise. “Why?” From what he had learnt of manga and anime – and he really hoped this part was more realistic than ceiling lunches in Yousen High’s case – Valentine’s Day in Japan was mostly focused on boys getting chocolate. He knew Atsushi preferred salty snacks or sweet candy over it, but he had never seen him turn down a piece of chocolate when offered. His sweet-tooth wouldn’t allow it, Tatsuya assumed.

Atsushi sulked, and looked ahead, which was something he desperately needed to do when walking in these hallways. Everyone in school knew to look out for their infamous “Titan” (a nickname which had caught on after some sensational anime which had premiered last Spring), so they always made way for him, but occasionally he would hit his head on low hanging, stylish ceiling lamps, or signs for emergency exits. Tatsuya suspected that “the Titan” had chosen Yousen High for their three meters high ceilings, without taking the lamps and signs into consideration.

When Atsushi was like this, it usually meant that he wanted Tatsuya to pry harder or bribe him, and since he had already given him the lollypop he had brought to congratulate him for scoring 86/100 on a test in Geography (a feat they were both in disbelief over), he chose the former.

“Atsushi? What’s wrong with Valentine’s Day?” he asked, gently, using his  _motherly_ voice and looking up at him through his emo bangs. Atsushi was sure to cave.

“Mm… It’s stupid,” Atsushi drawled. “It’s the one day of the year when you’re supposed to get free, homemade candy, and I never get any. It’s super unfair.”

Tatsuya startled, but he couldn’t afford to stop, because Atsushi’s steps were already way longer than his and a momentary pause meant falling behind and having to jog to catch up.

“Wait, never?” he asked, and he hoped he didn’t seem rude.

“Eh… They don’t like me,” Atsushi mumbled, acting like it didn’t bother him. “I’m too tall.”

He was also petty, childish and unpredictable, not to mention he had a sluggish walk and untended hair. To be honest, Tatsuya thought those qualities might have played a bigger part for the chocolate-making kind of girls than his simple height; but then again, it took some time before you learnt all that; the intimidating stature was probably the first real turn off for most of them.

Still, Tatsuya couldn’t help but think of it as a bit unfair, that the person who might appreciate it the most would go without chocolates. Not to mention, Atsushi always looked so happy when he got new treats, and Tatsuya didn’t understand why no one wanted to see that.

“Himuro-kun!” someone called just when he decided to comfort his friend, and so he looked away, seeing a girl from his class with black, silky pigtails and a pretty choice of pink lipgloss. Her name was Takada-san, if he remembered correctly, and she was currently blushing to match her lips.

“Hello, Takada-san,” he smiled to her, but stopping to talk meant that Atsushi was already walking ahead, and was soon beyond reach. He looked after his disappearing, purple head, and then back to his classmate.

Takada-san was smiling shyly back to him, and she held her class literature up to cover her face.

“What is your locker number?” she asked him.

On top of the design of the place, Yousen High had incorporated many Western ideas, like the use of school lockers as well as the traditional Japanese shoe lockers by the main entrance. This was something which annoyed many of the Japanese students, such as Atsushi, who often forgot his combination and had to wait for Tatsuya to open it, but exchange students and Tatsuya appreciated them.

The reason for Takada-san’s question appeared perfectly obvious, since he was not as oblivious to the amount of girls fancying him as he often acted, and was well aware of the date. Before giving her a straight answer, however, he got an idea. He wasn’t too big of a fan of chocolate, and he wasn’t interested in any of the girls in school (or girls in general, though he would hide that fact), but for the former, he knew someone he now had an opportunity to make very happy.

“My locker is on the second floor, number 144,” he told her, and at the perk of often being seen opening Atsushi’s locker, she did not seem suspicious at all.

“Thank you, I just wanted to make sure,” she babbled, and when he kept smiling, her blush increased. She excused herself to run towards her friends who had been watching the exchange from afar and all five of them squealed together, letting him make the assumption that his lie was spreading.

Hopefully, he could cure Atsushi of his Valentinephobia this year, he thought, fondly picturing the younger’s face on the day of love. The idea of making Atsushi happy overrode, at least for the moment, his guilty conscious over deceiving his admirers. But now he simply couldn’t wait to make it a good Valentine’s Day for someone he, until the next day, would totally consider a purely platonic friend. 

This needs to be repeated:  _Until the next day_. 


	2. Chapter 2

**  
Friday, February 14th**

**Valentine's Day**

<3 

For the last six month or so, Tatsuya had lived in a single dorm room in the student dormitories right behind Yousen High. Logically, this meant he had a five minute walk to school; however, the more time he had spent together with Atsushi, the more his daily habits had started to revolve around him, so he was used to walking to the train station closest to Yousen High and wait there for Atsushi to arrive every morning.

Valentine’s Day was the same, and the only way his morning routine was interfered was when he noticed a plastic bag hanging on his door. The bag contained a card reading: “ _From Miki_ ” with a doodled heart, accompanied by a box of homemade white chocolate with lemon-fudge filling, couretsy of the author's preference. Neither he, nor any of his neighbours, had any idea of who “Miki” was, but the others all agreed to spend their Valentine’s Day hating him.

After putting Miki’s chocolate in his room out of courtesy, Tatsuya went to the shared showers and got himself ready, in a trained hurry to go unnoticed. It did take effort to look as good as he did, which included skin and hair products most boys and girls he knew in Japan had never heard of, and the less they knew of his metro-lifestyle the better. He didn’t fear mockery necessarily, but he enjoyed people assuming he was flawless, put in more modest terms.

He was unaware of what this said about his admiration-craving personality, which relied on people depending on him, and how it contrasted his own hatred of depending on or being lesser than someone else.

Breakfast followed, cooked in the shared kitchen with the meagre skills he possessed, and then he was ready for the day. Dressed in the school uniform, he left the dorms and crossed campus, walking down the street from Yousen High to the train station by the outskirt of central Akita. He was right on time at seven-forty when the train stopped, and as usual, spotting Atsushi was not a problem at all.

As was to be expected given the date and works spoken yesterday, Atsushi wore a sourly expression, unlike his normal lazy indifference, hands shoved down his jacket’s pockets. Upon spotting Tatsuya, he seemed a bit perkier, and he greeted him with a near friendly:

“Muro-chin, morning.”

“Good morning, Atsushi,” he smiled in return. “Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said before he remembered that you didn’t really say that in Japan, and Atsushi gave him a funny look.

“It’s not like it’s my birthday,” he drawled cautiously, but it was teasing, probably.

Side by side, Tatsuya well accustomed to keeping up with Atsushi’s pace, they walked towards their school. Many girls in their uniforms, heading the same direction, were carrying bags or boxes of homemade or bought chocolate, but Atsushi as usual scared off most from approaching without meaning to. His sullen scowl was more than just a pout, and he did not let Tatsuya’s idle conversation distract from his bad mood.

Once they had reached the entrance, a few daring 3rd years, challenging each other, stalked up to Tatsuya, as they were taking off their shoes. In unison they introduced themselves and handed over their chocolates in a clearly practiced routine. Matsumoto-san, the exchange-student Choi Taeyeon-san and Fujibara-san, if he remembered correctly, also stated their reasons; Matsumoto-san recalled their eyes meeting in the cafeteria; Choi-san told him he had picked up a book she had dropped two months ago, and Fujibara-san told him she had gone to one of his basketball games and fallen in love with his beautiful form.

Fujibara-san in particular seemed to aggravate the looming Atsushi, who hadn’t walked ahead this time. He glared at the girls, and for a moment Tatsuya worried he would threaten to crush them down. Atsushi was a strange mix of silly and dangerous, and despite his best attempts at studying him, Tatsuya hadn’t quite figured out how he worked just yet.

Thankfully, all he did to Fujibara-san and her friends was to say:

“He doesn’t know you, go away, you’re annoying,” and though she alone stayed until he took a step closer, that seemed to do it.

“That wasn’t very nice, Atsushi,” Tatsuya scolded as he put on his indoor shoes, after the girls had more or less fled.

Like everything else in his life, Atsushi’s shoes, both indoors and out, were custom made, and ugly as sin. Tatsuya didn’t keep up with fashion so much as fashion kept up with him, but he much preferred to look up at his friend’s face, than down at the feet and awful shoes. Also, since they shared showers after games, he knew that Atsushi had been created to be ridiculously proportionate all around, and it wasn’t good to let his mind wander by staring anywhere else than upwards. Even if he strained his neck by doing so.

“Mm… I know,” Atsushi sighed, which was a rare admission. “But you’re gonna get that all day and I’m already bored of it.” Slumping his shoulders with a childish huff, under his breath, he muttered: “Why’s Muro-chin so pretty…” and out of respect, Tatsuya decided to not make a comment.

He also felt a bit puzzled by the compliment and it warmed him to know how Atsushi viewed him. Even though pretty was a bit vague.

From the entrance hall, they continued towards the second floor to go to Atsushi’s locker. Since Tatsuya made sure to stall them by pretending to tie his shoelaces wrong, he figured that enough girls had left chocolate at the locker by now, and he was smiling in anticipation as they walked up the stairs.

In lieu of the day of love, the school had been decorated with paper hearts made by the art club, and Tatsuya immediately deemed them as tacky, ridiculous and oddly reminiscent of his middle school back in America. The hearts were poorly cut out and scattered so randomly at the walls he wondered if it was supposed to be a modern art exhibition he didn’t get, or if this was the simple reason why Yousen was famous for its basketball team, and not the art club.

“How are you feeling?” he asked Atsushi just as they turned the corner towards his locker. “Still hating Valentine’s Day?”

Tsk-ing, it seemed like Atsushi was about to go on a short-lived, lazy and intense tirade against it, but due to his impressive height he saw over everyone’s heads, and spotted the pile of confection in front of his locker. Giving a sidelong glance upwards, Tatsuya smiled when Atsushi licked his lips.

As usual, people made way where he walked, and Tatsuya followed in the path left open. With great eagerness, though his cool front let him express that emotion with his natural suave nature, he peered at Atsushi who stopped in front of the pile of homemade candy.

Bending over – an act Atsushi mostly did when wanting to threat a shorter individual – he picked up one of the boxes. And here is why Tatsuya was _not_ a high-class genius, just a somewhat intelligent, occasionally too selfish and goal oriented teenager: Atsushi shoved the candy box right at Tatsuya’s face.

“These are for Muro-chin,” he stated, and for once, there was nothing prissy or childish over his tone. He didn’t so much as look at Tatsuya. “Your girlfriends must have confused our lockers, or something…”

“Atsushi-“

“-Look, the cards say so.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Atsushi looked down expectantly at Tatsuya, until he had to read a card to appease him.

_You’re the coolest, Himuro-kun. xoxo_

“This is stupid,” Atsushi muttered, and he reached over the pile to open the locker; miraculously remembering the combination for a change. “Valentine’s Day sucks.”

Once he had set off with his books and a newfound sense of direction, there was no hope for Tatsuya to catch up, so he had to stand with the pile of candy and berate himself for his _sucky_ plan. And yes, after spending so much time with Atsushi such terms had influenced his vocabulary without his notice.

He had severely underestimated Atsushi, he realized. Naively, he had thought that the chocolate – and the amount of it – would make him happy. But he hadn’t even so much as touched one; and he had questioned the existence of free candy. For real.

Tatsuya’s real locker was a bit down the hall, so he gathered as many of the chocolate he could manage and brought it there, thinking to get a bag for later to carry it to his dorm; more out of respect to the girls, than actual appreciation of it.

Thinking of Atsushi, he wondered if there was still hope to make him appreciate the day. A nagging voice asked him why it mattered so much, and the only answer he could come up with was: he liked Atsushi. He wanted him to be happy. The depth of this affection wasn’t one he could put a finger on, for he was so good at being indecisive of relationship statuses, but it wasn’t pure friendship, and it wasn’t what he had with Taiga, either.

With one box of chocolate still under his arm, he headed for his first class, where yet another bag waited on his desk, and another set of glares from chocolate-less classmates pestered him. But their jealousy was trivial, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit bad about it. It wasn’t like he would receive chocolate from the person he liked, either. 

 

<3

 

Yousen High had a superb cafeteria, which was known as one of its strongest points, alongside the “hip” design and students exchange program. The cafeteria had dishes from all over the world, served on a rolling menu, which meant different food each day, alongside the different treats and snacks. The last part bothered Atsushi, Tatsuya knew, since he would sometimes try a delicious cookie or a candy bar from some odd place like Sweden or Switzerland or wherever, which wouldn’t be available the next day. At least the vending machine outside kept serving the same treats, so in a worst case scenario, Tatsuya would get him a lollipop or pocky from it.

Most days were worst case scenarios.

It was rare that he would eat without his giant of a friend, but even for lunch, after a whole day of being avoided in the hallway, he sat down alone.

Naturally, sitting alone didn’t mean Tatsuya would remain by himself, and soon two girls; both complete strangers to him; decided to join him. They were both first years, with identical ponytails, and completely different faces and expressions. The one who looked shy, with a massive blush to the point of her very closely resembling a peach (because no person actually looks like a tomato, get real), introduced herself with a silent voice as Sato Mimatsu, after her smirking, ridiculously seductive friend said her own name was Aizawa Kaede.

Aizawa-san said she had made chocolate for him, and handed it to him right there in the cafeteria, bolder than anyone else, while Sato-san almost reluctantly placed her own box on the table and pushed it towards him.

“Thank you,” he told both of them with a gracious smile, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes, as he was faintly distracted by the lack of Atsushi.

Aizawa-san seemed to pick up on it, and she leaned towards him over the table.

“Himuro-senpai, I know that many girls like you because of your looks, but that’s not it at all for me. I play for the female basketball team, well, I’m just on the bench for now, but watching you play in the Winter Cup really inspired me.”

Thinking of basketball, and the fact that he had inspired someone, made him smile genuinely again.

“Thank you, Aizawa-san. I hope you’ll get to play soon.”

“Ah, it’s just, the chocolate is out of admiration only,” she said then, scratching the back of her neck sheepishly. “I know I’m not your type, so…”

The way she said it, and the way she suddenly looked away with a blush, made Tatsuya immediately realize that he had simply mistaken her confidence for attempt at seduction, since she, very clearly, possessed an accurate gaydar.

Sato-san chewed on her lips, and spoke up softly; “My chocolate… uhm, I was hoping you could give it to… I mean, I like… uhm, I want-“

“She wants your friend Murasakibara-kun to have it,” Aizawa-san translated, with a smirk directed towards her friend. “Because she has a thing for _reaaaally_ tall guys. That’s why she started playing basketball-“

“Kaede-chan!”

Tatsuya startled, and noticed, once he looked down on Sato-san’s box, that it was clearly addressed to “Mukkun” in an exceedingly intimate fashion. It struck him that she was very possibly in Atsushi’s class, and maybe he knew her well. Maybe Sato-san and Atsushi sat next to each other; the times _he_ wasn’t with him. Maybe Atsushi liked Sato-san back, and maybe he had been upset with the amount of chocolate by his locker not because it was all addressed to Tatsuya, but because he hadn’t gotten chocolate from Sato-san …

Sato-san seemed sweet, but Tatsuya hated her a little right then.

The girls bickered and teased each other for a bit, until Tatsuya decided to excuse himself. Once more he thanked Aizawa-san for her chocolate (and discretion), while promising Sato-san with an attempt to keep a civil tone that he would deliver her chocolate to Atsushi.  He left them with those words, and did his best to remember that Sato-san was a blushing, careful and cute girl, and not some vile creature looking to take away Atsushi from him.

He didn’t quite succeed.

 

<3

 

Liu-senpai, Okamura-senpai and Fukui-senpai all answered in the negative, when he saw them and asked if they had seen their fifth ranger of the first string. He didn’t know if he could count on their words, since they were all giving him the cold shoulder for getting so much chocolate – “Even from Oogawa-sensei!” Fukui-senpai had cried – but there was nothing he could do to get the information out of them, at that point.

After skipping the first period after lunch – something he had been more prone to do under the American education system – he had checked every classroom to see if he could find and ambush Atsushi. Upon spotting an empty seat next to Sato-san in a classroom on the first floor, it became clear to him that his friend was also skipping school, most like.

This was a bad sign, since Atsushi didn’t always think before wandering off. He ended up lost more often than not, and would call Tatsuya to come find him, whining about being lonely or cold or hungry. Since he had left without telling Tatsuya, however, he worried that he wouldn't even do that.

Tatsuya left school grounds after changing to his winter wear, and called Atsushi at least three times before giving up on that front. He texted him, asking where he was, if he was all right, but got no reply even then. All he could do then was check the places where Atsushi was likely to go, so he headed towards Akita, down the slope Yousen High was placed upon, to look at all the cafés and candy shops he was used to visiting with his friend.

Since befriending Atsushi, he was a regular at almost all places he went to, and he managed to get the store managers to agree to text him if they saw Atsushi. However, no one had seen him all day, when he come there looking, and though the city of Akita was no small feat to cover on his own, he couldn’t afford not to be thorough.

As he looked for Atsushi he wondered why the other had decided to ditch school. Even if he was sour about Sato-san, he should have responded to Tatsuya, at least. He couldn’t think of a reason why he would be avoiding _him_ , but then, Atsushi was a highly unpredictable fellow, and could prove highly perceptive at the most surprising of moments. Perhaps he had even realized Tatsuya was the reason for the locker mix-up?

Opening his phone, he decided to send another text, and tried to reach out anew.

_> Atsushi, please answer, I’m worried. I’m in Akita now, where are you?_

He wondered if he had sounded too desperate, but finally, his phone buzzed alive.

_< murochins skipping school. that’s naughty. _

_> You’re skipping school too._

_< yeah but murochin isnt scolding me, y?_

_> I told you, I’m worried, you’ve been away since before lunch._

_< im sick. see u on practice 2morrow._

Tatsuya scowled down at his phone, and rather than text, he made another shot at calling his phone. In a rare occasion of getting to save money, right as he was about to press _Call_ , he spotted Atsushi seated on a bench outside of a department store, taller when sitting down than most people passing by. Relief washed over him, and he hurried towards the missing boy.

Atsushi looked up when he heard him approach, and he looked partly guilty, partly upset, when he was joined on the bench.

“Muro-chin, it’s not good to skip school,” he said. “Now all your girlfriends are gonna be sad. You won’t eat all their delicious chocolate.”

“Atsushi, why didn’t you tell me you were skipping?” Tatsuya asked him, and he tried to use his most motherly  voice (dubbed thusly by Taiga and Alex both, to the point where refuting them was useless), though it didn’t seem to stick this time.

“Because Muro-chin was being stupid,” Atsushi muttered. He had a bag of seaweed flavoured chips on his lap, but he didn’t eat of them.

“How so?” he asked, rather than admitting the failure of his plan.

Atsushi turned to finally look at him, and with his narrowed eyes, he stared down at a steadily more unnerved Tatsuya.

“You thought I wanted just chocolate,” he said. “So you thought I’d be happy with chocolate made for you. Mm, but that’s not why I hate Valentine’s Day at all…”

With his abnormally large hands, Atsushi squeezed the bag of chips and they heard them crunch and crumble. He was pissed off, Tatsuya realized then, but now he had a reason.

Atsushi didn’t just want chocolate. He wanted chocolate made for _him_ , as Tatsuya had suspected from the moment in the cafeteria with the girls.

It felt like admitting defeat, when he sighed and pulled up Sato-san’s box from the bag he had carried, and held it out for Atsushi to take.

“You got chocolate too, Atsushi,” he said.

The box Sato-san had filled was shaped like a heart, with purple glittered scattered around the edges. The lid was see-through plastic, displaying the milk-chocolate treats within. A rose-coloured ribbon was tied beautifully around it, where the note was attached. Tatsuya looked up, trying to gather Atsushi’s expression, as the other read it.

Upon receiving the box, he had broken into a smile so pure it could have created a hypothetical world peace for about five seconds. Then came Armageddon, as he read the note, and immediately dropped the box to the ground and stomped on it, crushing it under his weight and muscle.

“Atsushi!” Tatusya cried out. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t want it,” Atsushi sulked, whining like a child. “Muro-chin’s being annoying, go away, I don’t wanna be with you now.”

“Not until you tell me,” Tatsuya said, standing up from the bench so that he could gain some edge as he stared down at the titan. “Tell me why you’re being like this. You didn’t want chocolate meant for me, you didn’t want chocolate made for you. I thought that was the reason you didn’t like Valentine’s Day. Why are you still acting like this?”

Standing up had been a poor move, since it only invited Atsushi to do the same, and under his looming figure, there was nothing Tatsuya felt like he could do about their circumstances. He felt tiny.

“I don’t want chocolate from any of them. I don’t like them,” said Atsushi, tone dangerously cold. With delicate, or personal topics, he wasn’t rarely straight-forward, but since he was already in a serious mode he added: “I wanted chocolate from you.”

Time went still, like during a basketball game where it felt like the buzzer wouldn’t ever hit zero so long as you kept talking with your opponent.

“From me?” Tatsuya barely managed to say.

Atsushi was looking away, doing an incredibly poor job at feigning indifference, though his words were honest. “I wanted to give Muro-chin chocolate, but you wouldn’t even know who it was from, since you get so much from those stupid girls. So I wanted chocolate from you instead, but you didn’t make me any.”

He would have known if the chocolate was from Atsushi. He wanted to say that, and reassure him, but his mouth wasn’t quite working, and it certainly wasn’t compatible with his brain. This was a confession, he realized, while his body became a non-functioning vessel for his confusion.

“I, mm… I like you,” Atsushi mumbled. “But I don’t like them, when they try to make you theirs when you should be mine. That’s all.”

“Atsushi…” That felt like the only word Tatsuya could say at that moment, and if he had been able to reach, he would have leant up to show his feelings through a kiss; but maybe, since they were out in public, and in Japan, it was better that he couldn’t.

Saying his name caused Atsushi to meet his gaze, and the narrowed, worried look in those purple eyes changed into something unbelievably happy as Tatsuya said: “I would have liked your chocolate. I didn’t realize you would accept mine.”

They stared at each other, unaware of how they should deal with this kind of affection they had admitted to, but slowly, as Atsushi’s lips started to quiver, turning into a smile, it became obvious.

Tatsuya was crushed into a tight hug which he returned as best he could without patting Atsushi’s ass, and though the February weather was stealing away the snow, leaving them to stand in a wet, grey-brown mess, it felt like something incredibly beautiful. They foolishly – (seriously, they were not good role-models that afternoon) – decided to skip the rest of the day, and spend it together.

 

<3

 

The road they walked was lonesome, so they risked holding hands; or, Tatsuya risked it; Atsushi did it naturally. Unfortunately, the height difference became too troublesome for handholding, so Tatsuya linked his arm with Atsushi’s instead, and stayed pressed against his side. Whenever he looked up, he saw the teen titan blush.

They talked, a bit about the past, a bit about the future, hypothetical scenarios and random, _oh so_ random, topics started by Atsushi. It wasn’t too unusual for them, since they had always felt at ease to converse openly, albeit slowly, but the feelings they had admitted to made it all seem more intimate.

To think, Tatsuya had felt weary about classifying his affection as romantic, until the point Atsushi had confessed and he had realized the hidden truth behind a statement such as “I like you”.

“So like… Are we boyfriends now?” Atsushi asked eventually, interrupting another conversation they had kept up about some topic Tatsuya immediately forgot about.

“If you want us to be,” he replied diplomatically.

“Doesn’t matter,” Atsushi said, though his face revealed his real desire. “I just want to know that Muro-chin’s mine.”

On the surface, it sounded like a child proclaiming his ownership of a toy, but the heavy, hidden sensuality behind his words – and his expression – made it sound like a possessive lover instead. Maybe it was wrong to encourage that behaviour, but Tatsuya enjoyed the idea of being absolutely exclusive.

“I’m yours,” he promised. “And I’ll make you chocolate too," he added, since he was so nice.

“Nah,” Atsushi waved it off. “I’ll make you chocolate. You always give me candy already, and now you’re my boyfriend.” His logic was easy to follow, this time.

It was getting dark, but they had enough lamps on the road to keep them lit up, and able to sneak glances and smiles. Tatsuya made Atsushi promise to tell Sato-san thank you for the chocolate, even though he hadn’t tasted it, and Atsushi made Tatsuya promise that he wouldn’t touch any of the chocolate left for him on that Valentine’s Day. He also promised to give them for Atsushi to eat, despite it all, and there were no protests this time.

Around dinnertime they turned to walk back, with grumbling stomachs and empty chips bags, set on a restaurant in Akita where they could split a bill and eat something none too fancy. But before they re-entered the busy streets, filled with couples and love in the air, Atsushi forced them into a halt. He seemed to think something about their long walk and light intimacy was missing.

Tatsuya was close to yelping, had he been more prone to openly display surprise, when Atsushi bent down to pick him up. He hoisted him up effortlessly, until the height gap between them was closed. At that point, the intent was clear enough for Tatsuya to help out with it, so he cupped Atsushi’s face and leant forward, bestowing upon Atsushi’s lips a slow kiss.

It felt odd to be so high in the air, but they kissed effortlessly there, soft lips often treated with Vaseline against dry and chapped ones in deep need of it. The kiss deepened on base instinct, though the naïve tongue entering Tatsuya’s mouth, licking his teeth oddly, proved Atsushi’s inexperience prior to it. He wouldn't mind helping out on that front.

Once their first kiss was over, Atsushi was grinning bigger than he had ever seen, and it was only fitting that he returned the words Tatsuya had told him that morning, before chocolate and confessions and being made boyfriends.

“Muro-chin, happy Valentine’s Day,” he said, as he finally understood the meaning of those words. 


End file.
